Mellinger: Chiefs better with Smith, but ghosts of past QB failures linger

[siberian khatru]

Chiefs better with Smith, but ghosts of past QB failures linger

By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star

John Dorsey met his wife here. They had barbecue on the Country Club Plaza, a poetically Kansas City way to fall in love. When he became the Chiefs’ new general manager last month, he famously called it his dream job. He doesn’t need to ask anyone for directions here. He knows Kansas City.

Or thought he did, at least.

Judged in a vacuum, the Chiefs just made themselves better. That’s Dorsey’s job, to make the football team better. Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn tag-teamed an awful quarterback situation for the Chiefs last season, and Dorsey knew he had to fix this before anything else.

Trading for Alex Smith — who took the 49ers within a whisker of the Super Bowl two years ago and was the league’s leading passer when he got hurt last year — makes the Chiefs better. To win games in 2013, this was the Chiefs’ best available option. Dorsey is a football man, so this is all he’s concerned with.

What he couldn’t have known is that the baggage Chiefs fans come by honestly means one of the most important decisions he and new coach Andy Reid will ever make here cannot be judged in a vacuum. Impossible.

Chiefs fans have been in an emotionally abusive relationship with quarterbacks for most of the last 40 years, and that’s not stopping now. Kansas City greeted Dorsey and Reid with everything but a parade — remember the Chiefs’ “Welcome Coach” commercial? — so if you’re keeping track, the honeymoon lasted eight weeks for Reid and seven for Dorsey.

In a football sense, the trade makes sense. The Chiefs have the first pick in April’s NFL Draft, but no amount of desperation or references about Todd Blackledge being the last homegrown quarterback to win a game for the Chiefs is going to turn rookie-to-be Geno Smith into Andrew Luck. There are no great options for teams needing quarterback help this offseason.

Dorsey was in the Packers’ circle of trust when they used a first-round pick on Aaron Rodgers despite Brett Favre still being a star. Reid used his first pick with the Eagles on Donovan McNabb, but still drafted five more quarterbacks (and added Michael Vick on a free-agent contract) to fortify the position.

There is nothing in Dorsey’s and Reid’s disposition or track record to suggest they have somehow contracted a *****an level of commitment to the franchise’s new import quarterback.

Except, that’s not how it’s taken by a large chunk of the new leadership’s constituency. This is a fiercely passionate fan base that often expects the worst, especially from quarterbacks, and they’ve seen this movie before: San Francisco Quarterback Comes to KC, Part Four.

That means there are few clean, objective opinions on this in Kansas City. Smith’s limitations will be talked about more than his potential. He is a borderline brilliant man — graduated with an economics degree in 2½ years while playing college football — who nearly set the NFL’s record for completion percentage last year. But he is also injury-prone, and now in a system that will likely have him taking more hits.

Smith is smart and especially accurate in short and intermediate routes, but the team that knows him best discarded him at the first opportunity for what was then a second-year backup who hadn’t proved anything. Smith excelled under current 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, which clouds the way he was figuratively jerked around by San Francisco’s coaches his first five seasons.

In the end, Smith is an upgrade from what the Chiefs had and anything else they were likely to get for 2013. He’s still in his 20s, and two longtime NFL personnel men described him as “an ascending player” in separate conversations on Wednesday. The most clear-headed take is that Smith is an improvement in the short-term and uninspiring in the long-term and is costing too much for the risk.

But the bigger problem for Dorsey and Reid is they are effectively rerunning the same script in Kansas City that’s about to celebrate a 20-year anniversary since the Chiefs’ last playoff win. They are taking fans on the same date that’s ended up in tears so many times before.

That’s not Dorsey’s or Reid’s fault, and probably not even something they should be concerned with. But it is something they’ll have to deal with in their new hometown.

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/02/27...ut-ghosts.html

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Fish

Yeah, poor dude has no idea how much pressure is going to be applied this season. If/when he fails, he's going to catch it hard core. Even Cassel will be like "Whoa you guys, that's harsh."

Alex Smith is getting the business end of our hatred built up over Bono, Grbac and Cassel.

He better win, or he's going to be reduced to cinders in a matter of weeks.

49ers fans are going to hate us for being mean to their boo-boo.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Go to Hell

Alex Smith is getting the business end of our hatred built up over Bono, Grbac and Cassel.

He better win, or he's going to be reduced to cinders in a matter of weeks.

49ers fans are going to hate us for being mean to their boo-boo.

Welcome to 40 years of RAGE, Mrs. Smith.....

[Molitoth]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

Alex Smith is gonna get ripped by the Fans...

dude has no idea what its gonna be like.

I don't think so. This fanbase will watch him suck for 3 years before any pressure is applied.

Go back and look at Matt Cassels career here.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by Molitoth

I don't think so. This fanbase will watch him suck for 3 years before any pressure is applied.

Go back and look at Matt Cassels career here.

BUT, we just repeated history....

No need to wait for year 3 of failure...

[Namor40]

Originally Posted by Fish

So let's recap...

-He couldn't make his team better with his play, and obviously had to rely on a great deal of help around him.

His rookie year, his starting RB was Kevan Barlow, who would be out of the NFL the following year. His WR's were Arnaz Battle, a special teamer for Pittsburgh, an aging Johnnie Morton and a young Brandon Lloyd who has been mostly ineffective when not involved with Josh McDaniel.

-He's had several season-ending injuries.

He's had one season ending injury.

-He went through 5 coordinators before anybody could get any success out of him.

He had Mike McCarthy, who left to go coach GB.

He had Norv Turner who he improved tremendously under...who left to go coach San Diego.

He had Jim Hostler........who has never again come close to being an NFL coordinator.

He had Mike Martz, and was injured most of the time.


He had Jimmy Raye, who hadn't been an offensive coordinator in ages and ran a 1970s style offense, highlighted by Mike Singletary's insistence to run the ball on 1st and 2nd down, pretty much everytime, leading to 3rd and long, pretty much everytime.

When Jimmy Raye was fired, he had Mike Johnson, who is now coordinating the offense...at UCLA.

Since Harbaugh has arrived, he's had Greg Roman and has been putting up some of the best numbers of any QB in football, running a smart offense that takes advantage of all of his various strengths.




He's a tough player that is improving, he'll continue to develop and improve under Reid and will be taking this team to the playoffs.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Namor40

His rookie year, his starting RB was Kevan Barlow, who would be out of the NFL the following year. His WR's were Arnaz Battle, a special teamer for Pittsburgh, an aging Johnnie Morton and a young Brandon Lloyd who has been mostly ineffective when not involved with Josh McDaniel.



He's had one season ending injury.



He had Mike McCarthy, who left to go coach GB.

He had Norv Turner who he improved tremendously under...who left to go coach San Diego.

He had Jim Hostler........who has never again come close to being an NFL coordinator.

He had Mike Martz, and was injured most of the time.


He had Jimmy Raye, who hadn't been an offensive coordinator in ages and ran a 1970s style offense, highlighted by Mike Singletary's insistence to run the ball on 1st and 2nd down, pretty much everytime, leading to 3rd and long, pretty much everytime.

When Jimmy Raye was fired, he had Mike Johnson, who is now coordinating the offense...at UCLA.

Since Harbaugh has arrived, he's had Greg Roman and has been putting up some of the best numbers of any QB in football, running a smart offense that takes advantage of all of his various strengths.




He's a tough player that is improving, he'll continue to develop and improve under Reid and will be taking this team to the playoffs.

You could replace "Alex Smith" with "Matt Cassel", and the giant list of sad ass excuses are the same. And we just kicked that piece of shit loser to the curb.

We don't want your ****ing cast off garbage, no matter how much hope you tie to his ass. If he was so great, you wouldn't be shipping him out. End of story. If he wasn't definitively worse than Kaepernick, he'd still be the starting QB of the 49ers. Your coach's decision tells us much more about him than your pathetic attempts here. He lost his job, after 5 years of struggling to do shit. Franchise QBs don't struggle for 5 years having comparable stats to Matt ****ing Cassel, and get traded by their team, to go on to glory elsewhere.

[Namor40]

Originally Posted by Fish

You could replace "Alex Smith" with "Matt Cassel", and the giant list of sad ass excuses are the same. And we just kicked that piece of shit loser to the curb.

We don't want your ****ing cast off garbage, no matter how much hope you tie to his ass. If he was so great, you wouldn't be shipping him out. End of story. If he wasn't definitively worse than Kaepernick, he'd still be the starting QB of the 49ers. Your coach's decision tells us much more about him than your pathetic attempts here. He lost his job, after 5 years of struggling to do shit. Franchise QBs don't struggle for 5 years having comparable stats to Matt ****ing Cassel, and get traded by their team, to go on to glory elsewhere.

Remind me again when Alex Smith played with Wes Welker and a coming of his best season ever, Randy Moss?????



I for one am quite excited to see the Chiefs with both a real head coach and a real quarterback, its going to be a damn good season and when they make it to the playoffs, I hope you can be a man and come back here and admit just how horribly wrong you were.

[bevischief]

Originally Posted by Molitoth

I don't think so. This fanbase will watch him suck for 3 years before any pressure is applied.

Go back and look at Matt Cassels career here.

Not any more.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Namor40

Remind me again when Alex Smith played with Wes Welker and a coming of his best season ever, Randy Moss?????



I for one am quite excited to see the Chiefs with both a real head coach and a real quarterback, its going to be a damn good season and when they make it to the playoffs, I hope you can be a man and come back here and admit just how horribly wrong you were.

.... using Cassel as an example to show how good Smith is? Holy shit, that's sad...

I'm also quite excited to see the Chiefs with both a real head coach and a real quarterback. But it looks like it might take 3-4 more seasons for that to happen...

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Namor40

I for one am quite excited to see the Chiefs with both a real head coach and a real quarterback, its going to be a damn good season and when they make it to the playoffs, I hope you can be a man and come back here and admit just how horribly wrong you were.

Yeah, that'll ****ing happen...

[BlackHelicopters]

This is a nightmare that we all collectively are going to wake up from , right? Right?

[Namor40]

Originally Posted by Rausch

Yeah, that'll ****ing happen...

When it does, you can admit how wrong you were. I see good things for this team, Oakland is slowly rebuilding, Chargers are getting old, Denver will fall off once Manning retires or gets injured again. This is just the first step in KC taking over this division for a long time.

[OrtonsPiercedTaint]

I'm pretty sure Fox News would associate Alex Smith to Hitler.

[Molitoth]

Originally Posted by bevischief

Not any more.

Our dumbass fanbase being excited about this trade shows me that nothing has changed. They will go to Arrowhead and BBQ and watch a terrible product for AT LEAST 2 full seasons before any questionmarks are raised by the true fans.

They will keep feeding excuses: He needs a better line, he needs better WR's, Charles is too old, our OC is not good.... etc.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

oh shit...lolololmao....i forgot about the concussion. GREAT trade, asswipes! Lmao
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